Category: Projects

This quilt top is one I’ve worked on slowly over several years. It’s a large block version of the traditional circling swallows block, and is paper pieced.  I wanted it to be colorful, unexpected, and big enough to serve as a fun picnic or beach quilt.  Here it is, my large Flight quilt top:

I made my first version of the Flight quilt back in 2014 with Bonnie Christine fabrics.  That was TEN years ago!  Wow, time has flown.  Since then, here and there I’ve revisited it, and finally released the pattern.  (It’s actually a two in one pattern, with a bonus extra large single block Flight II pattern that makes a 64″ quilt)  Over the years I made a few sample blocks, but I always wanted to make a large 9 block version.

I had a few sample blocks in solids, all made independently.  I decided to use them, however, and went through my stash of solids to make several more.  It’s a vibrant quilt, and the unexpected color combinations make me smile.  (They remind me of my Prosper in Solids quilt, but maybe even more bold.)  It’s SO much fun to play with color and see how they all interact with each other.  That interaction, and observing what takes center stage, is one of my most favorite things about quilting.  I get to experiment endlessly, and learn from all of it.  Color is such a great teacher!

I’m currently brainstorming how to quilt this.  It could be fun to create something cool in the negative space.  I would also like to make the birds stand out, but perhaps a simple edge to edge design will prevail.  Either way, I’m excited to finish this large flight quilt top and have it begin the journey of memory making with my family!

When I launched my Flight Quilt pattern, it only made sense to include both sizes.  I have long loved the symmetry and beauty of the traditional circling swallows design.  After I made my first Flight quilt, I also made a larger, single block version years ago and called it Flight II.  The pattern includes the Flight and Flight II blocks, so it made sense to make another Flight II quilt.  Here it is, Flight II Quilt in Posy fabrics!

This version provided an opportunity to play with some new colors:  Ruby + Bee solids by Heather Ross and Annabel Wrigley, plus a few prints from Annabel’s Posy collection.  I enjoyed sewing with them, and found the colors to be very pretty.

I chose a rich blue for the background of the quilt and an orchid for the star.  Circling are 8 prints from the Posy collection.  Because of the larger size, this quilt comes together quickly and measures 64″ square.

I wanted understated quilting, so I quilted this on my longarm (I am trying to improve!) in an edge-to-edge loop pattern.  The binding is the same gorgeous blue as the background.  And for the backing, I selected a happy Martha Negley print which I’ve saved for years.  I love the light contrast it provides to the quilt front.

This Flight II quilt in Posy was made for Allee, a dear friend to all of my daughters.  Her goodness and kindness has lifted my girls again and again, and we all love being around her.  She is like a 6th daughter, so it only made sense for her to have her own quilt.  As I’ve said before, quilts are art we can wrap around people we love.  What a joy it is to do that!

The days are getting longer as the mercury inches slowly up, up, up on the thermometer.  An observant walk reveals a million little things bursting from the soil while the cold wind still bites and turns my nose red.  But it’s coming!  This change of season is so beautiful and full of promise.

It’s full of promise inside, too.  One quilt awaits binding – a new design!  Another, dear to my heart, lies in strips awaiting the next phase of piecing.  A third, freshly bound, needs  photographs and a label, and being loved into true ownership by my family.  My sketchbook lies open with fresh ideas and renewed interest.  So inside, like outside, there is a return, at last!

I did not mean to step away and neglect this space for so long.  It wasn’t a decision; more like an unfolding.  Someone hacked my site, blasting posts into pieces and creating problems everywhere (no sensitive information was there to steal, thankfully, just a big mess left for us to work through!).  Countless hours later, and with consequences we’re still working through, here we are again, mostly – I hope – put back together. (Please be patient while I keep working through old posts to check for errors.)

 

Meanwhile, life marches on.  Two of our children were married in the last six months, one returned home from Guam after an 18 month mission; another left for New York on a mission, and a son is now graduating from high school and preparing to leave as well.  A million changes and meaningful experiences, challenges, good times, and stretching characterize this season.  But through all of it, something was missing.

There always is, when I’m not actively creating.  It’s one of a few “extra” things that add a layer of sweetness and fulfillment to my life, so tangible that they don’t seem “extra” at all.  The pressures of immediate concerns crowd them out; it’s an unfortunate cycle I’ve lived repeatedly, and one I always hope to eliminate.  Here is my question:  what do you do when you’ve wandered too far from creativity?  How do you find your way back?

 

So I’m beginning again.  A return, at last!  A little more sewing, a little more imagining, a little more color, a little more everything creative.  It feels good to be here!

-Jennifer